Monday, February 19, 2024

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975)

The trilogy of A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1967), and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving are probably the most famous of the Peanuts specials and, thus, ensured the series's longevity, just as The Curse of Frankenstein(1957), Horror of Dracula(1958), and The Mummy (1959) ensured the longevity of Hammer films or Dr. No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963), and Goldfinger (1964) ensured the longevity of the James Bond films. Happily, in the case of all three series, there were still other great entires, as well. This is one memorable Peanuts entry for me. To quickly summarize, Charlie Brown is expecting a lot of Valentines this season, while Linus hopes to win the heart of his teacher, Miss Othmar and Sally thinks Linus's gift for Miss Othmar is really for her. Of course, all three end up heartbroken, although I was especially sad for Charlie Brown as both Linus and Sally presumably got Valentines from their classmates. I was prepared to cry until the unexpectedly hilarious ending in which Violet makes amends for not giving Charlie Brown a Valentine by giving him one of hers. What makes this funny is Schroeder sticking up for Charlie Brown with an impassioned speech-only for Charlie Brown to basically tell him to let bygones be bygones as he happily accepts Violet's Valentine. So, it's not surprising that this is another classic in the Peanuts canon.

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975)

The trilogy of A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1967), and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving are...